A characterful grand-scale SRPG

It's incredible how much this iconic SRPG series keeps reinventing itself and Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave is my favourite entry so far.

Just like with PlayStation 5, Video Chums utilizes an SSD on our server to deliver lightning-fast page load times. ⚡

Sirocco proves that not everyone who looks like an ally is one Choose your hero

Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave kind of has you play as yourself and after a thorough introduction, you'll choose 1 of 4 heroes then travel back in the past to guide them to defeat a dastardly foe. These characters range drastically as they consist of a justice-seeking young lad, a tough warrior who desires to be the best, a queen dedicated to her land, and a vengeful dancer who has many layers. Of course, I played mostly as her and I was very impressed with her character as most dancers in RPGs are typical and one-dimensional but she uses her charm and talent to fight for what's right and is always looking out for fellow women. For example, upon entering one part of town, you catch a man harassing someone so she jumps in and helps out without hesitation. She also has an ally who dresses as a boy to protect herself from creeps which is a depressing reflection of reality and themes like this make the cast stand out, especially when you meet the other heroes around. 📚 v1d30chumz cyzttywqbywxz

Of course, the cast of characters you'll be familiar with most changes depending on which starting hero you choose to follow the story of and it's super-impressive how much story there is to take in from optional moments, subtle dialogue references, exposition-filled cutscenes, and story sequences that all feature talented voice actors that make each character shine as well as gorgeously detailed character models that are superbly animated. It's so impressive that I can easily say that this cast is the best in any SRPG I've ever played and as you piece everything together and discover how certain folks are related, it makes every epic story battle all the more fulfilling and personal. 🏆

Pro-tip: these dungeon battles act as a fast way to level-up Get ready for battle

Speaking of battles, the classic phase-based SRPG combat composes the core of Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave's gameplay. The first thing I noticed about its battles is how tightly refined each one is designed which alleviates any potential downtime while optimising the excitement as you exchange blows and thin out your adversary's army. With such unique characters having their own weapon affinities, skills, and attributes; getting to intimately know what everyone's capable of as characters make up for each other's weaknesses, provide boosts, and then stamp out their foes is incredibly satisfying. I especially enjoy the Blaze Arts which are powerful skills that deplete HP and are tied to a gauge that grants more power as long as you don't overdo it. Using these strategically to boost allies and defeat enemy clusters is always exciting. ⚔️

In addition to the battles being tightly designed, there's a ton of variety in Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave and every time a battle mixed up the formula, I was always delighted. For instance, one battle tasks you with a Reversi-like puzzle where you and your opponent light braziers and respawn when defeated then whoever has the most braziers of their colour after a certain amount of turns wins. Another super-clever component is that there's always a daunting battle ahead that you get some hints about and before you challenge it, you'll spend time optimising and levelling-up your team so you'll really get to know everyone as you gradually whip your party into shape. 🏋️‍♀️

It's the battle of the braziers! Take on dungeons and explore the map

Now that I mention this clever element of Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave, let's talk about what you can do in your free time as you advance towards the next big fight. For starters, you'll become very familiar with the large central city of Dagsion which features 3 distinct levels and inside areas such as the inn and temples. While here, you can do shopping, give gifts to hopefully recruit characters or at least strengthen your bonds with them, share meals with folks, perform chores at the temple for favours that can help you in battle, and lots of other things. After accepting a few quests, you can head out to the world map where time passes as you travel between nodes and you can search areas for materials, trade for items, talk to folks to unveil points of interest, and take on dungeons so using your time wisely will certainly pay off. ⏳

These dungeons are quite enjoyable at first but I have to say that they're the weakest part of Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave as they're quite visually drab and become rather monotonous to explore. The good news is that fighting enemies is done via a quick turn-based system that really lets you level-up faster and getting a sneak attack in before each fight is always a fun time. Besides that, all you essentially do is smash objects for materials and search for treasure chests and there are a lot of branching paths but, hey, you might find something cool! 🧭

I'm the best birdie in the entire realm Complete quests and challenge the best

I mentioned that the characters are excellent in Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave and even the NPCs are interesting to talk to as you get to know certain folks and witness some goofy interactions that'll definitely make you crack up. You may even find someone who really resonates with you that you can shower with gifts and invite to every meal so the possibilities for character growth even with odd strangers are impressive. Plus, taking on quests that range from fighting monsters to clear an area to delivering items or simply meeting someone somewhere provides a welcoming layer of personality, especially as you level-up your reputation which lets you visit new lands and recruit more characters. 😸

There's just so much to do in Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave that it's ridiculous and the combination of time management, classic SRPG battles, brilliant character interactions, dungeon-crawling, map uncovering, and the plenty of bonuses that you can enable add up to create a formula that's quite daunting at first but once you get in the groove, it all becomes exceptionally satisfying. Of course, you'll need patience to reach that point and you might even be compelled to start your favourite character's campaign again in order to make better decisions. One element I love is that you can take on the next part of the campaign whenever you wish so if you want to rush ahead and face steeper challenges without taking the time to enhance your capabilities, you're free to do so and can go right ahead if you can be so bold! Speaking of which, once you hone your army into an unstoppable force and challenge the Heroic Games, things really come together beautifully. 🏛️

Where should we go next, chums?

Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave is an amalgamation of many diverse elements which add up to one rewarding adventure that's full of thoughtfully-written characters, unique challenges, and satisfying progression systems.

Watch A.J. play Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave 11:53

You may also be interested in these: Fire Emblem Engage Review, Fire Emblem: Three Houses Review, Prepare for Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave, Switch Retro Spotlight: Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones, Top 10 Fire Emblem: Three Houses Characters, Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp Review, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door Review, Paper Mario: The Origami King Review, Baldur's Gate 3 Review, and Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Campaign Guide.

Discover more turn-based strategy RPGs, games developed by Intelligent Systems, games published by Nintendo, and games that we scored 9 or greater.

Filed under: Reviews › Switch 2.